Random Pensées

An unwelcome sound

High, very high, on the list of unwelcome sounds is the following sound I heard at 1:07 a.m. on Monday morning:

Mamma? I don't feel so BLACH SPLASH!

And just like that, there I am, wiping vomit off the rug in my bedroom.

A lovely way to wake up and the poor Boy Child was sick all day on Monday.

On Tuesday, I went off to work quite merrily.

I felt unwell on the train ride in.

I left early and was home in bed, teeth chattering, by 12:30 where I slept until at least 4:00 in the afternoon.

The Viking Bride was then struck down.

We both sat in the den -- her supine on the sofa and me reclining in a chair -- while the two oldest kids supervised the baby.

The Girl Child cleaned the baby's mouth and hands after his dinner and got him out of his booster seat. The GC and the BC then traded off watching over him. At one point, the GC ran upstairs for a moment and I heard the BC say the following to the baby:

Ok, Baby, can you be super, extra good for me? The GC had to go upstairs and this is the first time I am watching you all by myself and it is very hard work.

The GC and the BC then discussed, in detail, how they were going to hoist the baby up into his crib to put him to bed (it already having been agreed between them that the GC was going to read the good night story to the BC and put him to bed) if neither the Viking Bride nor myself could do it. The BC remembered that the front of the crib came down so they felt comfortable getting that down and boosting him into the crib.

While they felt they had it under control, I just the same summoned the energy to get the baby changed, read to, and put to bed without their kind offers of assistance. They still had to brush their own teeth and the GC still performed story reading duties.

The next day (yesterday) dawned somewhat better for me but the Viking Bride was still weak as a kitten. I had to go to work to take a conference call on a really important deal -- not changing the face of Western Society as we know it important but still pretty significant for my client just the same.

I took a 12:07 train home, stopped off to get some soup and other easy to digest foods, and let the Viking Bride go to bed. The baby and the BC both got up from their naps on the very early side and I took all the kids to the library. We took out a Warner Bros. cartoon video and a copy of the Magic Flute (yes, the Mozart opera) to watch while we were sick (or, while the wife and I were sick). We also got a bunch of books, including 5 firetruck books for the BC.

It actually turned into a great day. After dinner, the BC and the GC practiced their instruments and we watched cartoons. Good cartoons. Funny cartoons. Not the crappy stuff that tries to pass for cartoons today with their pious multi-cultural messages and . . . well, I have written about that before.

The kids were in bed by 7:30. The Viking Bride and I were in bed by 8:30.

I managed, somehow, to get my ass on the squash court this morning for my weekly torture session with a former Division I athlete. Happily, he was recovering from a flu, too. We played ok and I did not vomit on the court, although I did have to pass on pilates this morning. That was simply even more unwise than playing squash, if you can believe it.

Anyway, here we are. Back at work. Almost at full strength.

I trust you all have been well this week?

Posted by Random Penseur at February 21, 2008 11:20 AM | TrackBack